Ziggurat

A ziggurat refers to a monumental, stepped structure, simulating a mountain, constructed in ancient Mesopotamian cities and closely associated with temple worship. Built of mudbrick and rising in terraces, ziggurats supported a shrine at the top dedicated to a city’s patron deity. They were not spaces for public assembly but symbolic mountains that elevated sacred space above ordinary life. Ziggurats expressed order, stability, and divine presence within the urban landscape, anchoring religious, political, and cosmic meaning at the heart of the city.